Co-operative legal services for probate ???

dawcer

As anyone had resent experience of using CO-OPERATIVE LEGAL SERVICES LTD FOR PROBATE?
My brothers have engaged them to deal with our late Mother's estate ( who died intestate leaving only an inheritance that was due to her from her brother but that had not yet completed probate, ) and I am feeling increasingly concerned about the way they conduct their business.
We were first introduced to Co-Operative Legal Services Ltd through the co-op funeral services that we were using for our Mother's funeral. The funeral directors gave one of my sister a leaflet saying that Co-operative legal Services ltd offered a lot of FREE advice,( apparently there was no limit to the number of times we could call them for information which they would give free of charge ) Also on offer were fixed fee all inclusive probate services.

Unknown to me contact was made and a Co-Operative Legal Services ltd salesman turned up at my brother's house the day after our mother's funeral.

After a sales pitch and the filling up of a questionnaire the salesman got my brother to sign up for their £3,000 probate service . Despite the fact that my brother is one of 6 children the salesman made no proper investigations to ensure that the other 5 children were in agreement with this.

My brother phoned me the following evening informing me that we were using Co-Operative Legal Services ltd. for probate for Mother's estate at a cost of £3,000 I was not happy as we had all agreed not to use expensive outside help.

Following this , in an effort to be included in the decision making process of my Mother estate I phoned Co-Operative Legal Services ltd saying that I wished to be one of the administrator and ask that I should be allowed to go through the same meeting that my brother had.They agreed and said they would send the same representative .





During my one hour meeting with the same salesman who saw my brother( whos previous job had been selling mortgages ) I was given the impression that everything we needed would be included within their £3,000 probate fee which in its self seems very expensive as the probate part of our Mother's estate is to ( when the expeditors of our uncles estate finally pass on her inheritance ) be paid as money only into a holding account ,so there would only be need for some simple form filling which any probate solicitor would do for a few hundred pounds. ( We also understand from previous request to the executors of our uncle's estate that the amount to be inherited through our Mother, is under £300,000 but we could never obtain an actual figure from them. A fact which the Co-Operative were fully aware ) . However When the Co-Operative Legal services ltd signed our family up for their £3,000 probate service they knew they would not be able to apply for probate until either the inheritance had been passed to our Mother's estate or an approximate figure of the amount due had been obtained from the executors of our uncle's estate .

They knew they were getting us to sign up for a service they would not implement within their £,3,000 probate service. Pursing the expeditors of our uncles estate, we are now told , DOES NOT COME WITHIN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THEIR £3,000 PROBATE SERVICE WE SIGNED UP FOR BUT WILL BE CHARGED AT £ 180
ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY POUNDS PER HOUR EXTRA FOR AS MANY HOURS AS IT TAKES TO GET THE FUNDS OR A FIGURE OF THE AMOUNT DUE, RELEASED FROM THE EXECUTORS OF OUR UNCLES ESTATE.

I feel we have been manipulated by the Co-Operative Legal Services ltd into using their solicitor at £180.00 per hour for a job we did not engage them to do .However they cannot move forward with the £3,000 probate service until there are funds or a figure of funds available regarding our mother's estate. THIS WAS ABSOLUTLY NOT MADE KNOWN TO ME AT MY MEETING WITH THE SALESMAN.

This is on going. I will post an update

daska

dawcer wrote: »

As anyone had resent experience of using CO-OPERATIVE LEGAL SERVICES LTD FOR PROBATE?

My brothers have engaged them to deal with our late Mother's estate ( who died intestate leaving only an inheritance that was due to her from her brother but that had not yet completed probate, ) and I am feeling increasingly concerned about the way they conduct their business.

We were first introduced to Co-Operative Legal Services Ltd through the co-op funeral services that we were using for our Mother's funeral. The funeral directors gave one of my sister a leaflet saying that Co-operative legal Services ltd offered a lot of FREE advice,( apparently there was no limit to the number of times we could call them for information which they would give free of charge ) Also on offer were fixed fee all inclusive probate services.

Unknown to me contact was made and a Co-Operative Legal Services ltd salesman turned up at my brother's house the day after our mother's funeral.

After a sales pitch and the filling up of a questionnaire the salesman got my brother to sign up for their £3,000 probate service . Despite the fact that my brother is one of 6 children the salesman made no proper investigations to ensure that the other 5 children were in agreement with this.

My brother phoned me the following evening informing me that we were using Co-Operative Legal Services ltd. for probate for Mother's estate at a cost of £3,000 I was not happy as we had all agreed not to use expensive outside help.

Following this , in an effort to be included in the decision making process of my Mother estate I phoned Co-Operative Legal Services ltd saying that I wished to be one of the administrator and ask that I should be allowed to go through the same meeting that my brother had.They agreed and said they would send the same representative .

During my one hour meeting with the same salesman who saw my brother( whos previous job had been selling mortgages ) I was given the impression that everything we needed would be included within their £3,000 probate fee which in its self seems very expensive as the probate part of our Mother's estate is to ( when the expeditors of our uncles estate finally pass on her inheritance ) be paid as money only into a holding account ,so there would only be need for some simple form filling which any probate solicitor would do for a few hundred pounds. ( We also understand from previous request to the executors of our uncle's estate that the amount to be inherited through our Mother, is under £300,000 but we could never obtain an actual figure from them. A fact which the Co-Operative were fully aware ) . However When the Co-Operative Legal services ltd signed our family up for their £3,000 probate service they knew they would not be able to apply for probate until either the inheritance had been passed to our Mother's estate or an approximate figure of the amount due had been obtained from the executors of our uncle's estate .

They knew they were getting us to sign up for a service they would not implement within their £,3,000 probate service. Pursing the expeditors of our uncles estate, we are now told , DOES NOT COME WITHIN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THEIR £3,000 PROBATE SERVICE WE SIGNED UP FOR BUT WILL BE CHARGED AT £ 180 ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY POUNDS PER HOUR EXTRA FOR AS MANY HOURS AS IT TAKES TO GET THE FUNDS OR A FIGURE OF THE AMOUNT DUE, RELEASED FROM THE EXECUTORS OF OUR UNCLES ESTATE.

I feel we have been manipulated by the Co-Operative Legal Services ltd into using their solicitor at £180.00 per hour for a job we did not engage them to do .However they cannot move forward with the £3,000 probate service until there are funds or a figure of funds available regarding our mother's estate. THIS WAS ABSOLUTLY NOT MADE KNOWN TO ME AT MY MEETING WITH THE SALESMAN.

This is on going. I will post an update

Sorry, the bold made it impossible for me to read

Have you tried making a formal complaint to the Co-op detailing what you've told us?

madbadrob

If a grant as not been sought yet you could take this out of your brothers hands and the Co-Op's by applying for the letters of administration yourself and then carrying out probate yourself. 3k doesn't sound a lot to me as a solicitor would want that sort of fee and the £180 an hour is similar to what solicitors will ask for as well

Rob

Co-operative

At The Co-operative Legal Services we always aim to provide the best possible advice and support to families suffering bereavement. We are sorry to hear that you feel we have not done this for you.

We provide free general practical advice and support to recently bereaved families, helping them understand whether it is likely that a Grant of Probate is required and if so, the options and choices available to them.

If it is likely that a Grant of Probate is required, we aim to help the personal representatives make an informed decision on how to proceed with the administration of the estate. We offer a no obligation meeting with one of our consultants at a date and location convenient to them in order to explain the options and choices available and to explain our professional fixed fee service as one of those options.

We always encourage clients to discuss what they want to do with other family members and personal representatives before they make a decision on how to proceed..

We offer a comprehensive fixed fee Grant of Representation and Estate Administration Service in order to give our customers the assurance of the fees they will pay before work commences.

We are keen to speak with you to resolve any misunderstanding about our service and the fees we charge. We would not normally charge an additional hourly rate of £180 per hour for corresponding and liaising with the executors of another estate where the deceased was due to receive inheritance, as this is normally part of our fixed fee service. If we were also asked to administer the other person’s estate, a separate fixed fee would be agreed with their personal representatives.

The majority of our customer feedback is extremely positive about the help and support that we provide, but we are always looking for ways to improve the service.. We are disappointed to hear that you feel we have not provided you with the level of service that you would expect and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your comments further with you. Please could you contact your case handler or the team manager supervising the administration of your mother’s estate so we can do this at your earliest convenience.

RAS

Co-operative

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YesWillMan

RAS wrote: »

Co-operative

Do you have permission from MSE Towers to post on here? If not, your post will be considered spam and removed.

I do Probate can I make a similar post to the Co-op?

Now being serious I find the actions of the Co-op incredible.
They must have known that the only reason that Probate is needed was due to the other estate being inherited. If this is not covered by the £3k fee then they took such agreement under false pretences.

I would apply for the Grant myself if I was the OP and save all the fees. Probate Court fees would be payable but the £180 per hour and any fixed fees would be saved. The Solicitors on the other estate should be able to give a round "ballpark" figure which could be used for the Probate application together with other figures for any bank account furniture/personal effects which can be included. If there is no IHT involved then any difference in the ultimate figure achieved would make little difference.

I would have thought all beneficiaries would have had to agree to the Co-Op acting so can they really insist on acting. The Co-op person coming on here I feel shows that they probably dont. These "reps" the Co-op have taken on are just salesmen and not always Will/Probate people. Th

dawcer

daska wrote: »

Sorry, the bold made it impossible for me to read

Have you tried making a formal complaint to the Co-op detailing what you've told us?

Thank you for replying to my post.

I did complain to the case handler ( who is the solicitor who will be taking the case on ) she said they will be taking intructions from my brother and if I was not happy I could resign from being an adminastrator.
I will now take your advise and write formally to complain.

Fire_Fox

Agree formal written complaint.

madbadrob

The fact still stands that your mother died intestate. As an entitled heir you yourself can apply for the letters of administration and deal with the issues related to this yourself without the need for the CO-OP to even get involved. If you believe that your brother has been sold a service that doesnt qualify for what you believed it to then you can make a complaint firstly to the CO-OP and then if you dont get a satisfactory answer a complaint to the FSA (assuming they are registered which they should be) You could also retain the services of a solicitor to recover all monies spent.

Rob

broworld

Don't even think about Co op Legal Services. My wife has been lied to by them, and she now thinks that they are being deliberately obstructive.

All the help that they promised at the begining disapeared as soon as her brother signed the handling of the estate over to them.

I shall post the full saga when (if) they eventually finish it.

In the meanwhile STEER CLEAR!

Crabapple

I don't have personal experience of the Co-op but they do have a very handy 'in' to many bereaved relatives who use their funeral services.

I would always be wary of a service that is plugged without any alternatives - look into your options.

As someone above said, the people you see initially are salespeople who have had a bit of basic training about the process, they are not lawyers.

In the OP's case, I would argue that they should not and could not have taken instructions from one child when there are others equally entitled to take the Grant. I'd do as others suggested, complain to them about this situation, but go off and get a Grant to the estate yourself.

If you've got a reasonable idea of the inheritance coming you can do it now and if necessary report the amendment to HMRC later.